Looking for a decent metal shrinker/stretcher, foot operated. Wondering if anyone has a recommendation for a good one? I am an amateur at best, but I don’t mind paying for quality….once.
I have the Eastwood model. It works great but if was to buy again I would get one with a deeper throat.
I have the Lancaster ones but would agree to get a deep throat one if you can. 2 are less of a pain in the *** but you can get away with one machine and switching jaws. The Baileigh deep throat ones seem to be ridiculously priced. I can buy the same unit in Canada for $1000 CDN dollars that they are selling for $1600 USD. That's more than double when you factor in conversion. https://www.kakaindustrial.ca/produ...uUhSLGT4XIt6iV18U1XsNELajcLBe_ehoCx3kQAvD_BwE
Shrinker by a ton. Where the one machine switching dies becomes a pain in the *** is when you over shrink something and have to stretch it a little to get it back to where you want it.
I can get even cheaper versions of the deep throat machines up here. This one goes on sale for $500 regularly but I don't think the dies are quite as nice as the more expensive ones. I am tempted to pick one up but have no room. https://www.princessauto.com/en/pro...57dG9vVZQVtqUhThRbELBDupl8vGqctRoCkeUQAvD_BwE Changing dies in the deep throat machines is much easier than the Lancaster style machines and at least up here they come with both sets of dies.
There's this one.... https://www.ebay.com/itm/2983173033...MI8OHRoYeNlgMVchGtBh0OtTGtEAQYASABEgKVo_D_BwE All of these (including Bailiegh's) come out of China.
Ive got Woodward fab ones at school. The kids haven’t destroyed em yet I’ve had much better than expected use out of my HF ones. Not deep though. If only buying shrinking, you’ll want the stretching dies soon. how often are they gonna be used? Daily or a few times year.
I have two Lancaster units, one for shrinking and one for stretching. I also have a Baileigh deep throat used mostly for shrinking.
notice how the dies on this unit are rounded with 1 bolt holding top and 1 bolt holding the bottom die in, I have had better results with these than the units with side bolts holding the dies in.
you can't do what a shrinker does with a hammer. at least what I did with mine. I bought the Harbor Freight/Eastwood one. one head with 2 dies. did everything I expected it to do, and you can swap the dies in 30 seconds. I never saw a reason for 2 heads, though if I had money to blow I'd have bought of the more expensive ones and done the same projects and saved like 2 minutes in an hour of work.
I have this: https://metalace.com/metalace-shrinker-stretcher-deluxe-kit/ I added air cylinders and foot pedals to it. I have the Covell depth stops. It is made in some place called Usa, which I think is a city located in Ōita Prefecture, Japan.
That Covell depth stop is really handy and helps you keep a consistent depth as you work a piece. IFYKYK.
Not a great pic but the radiused seam where this wheel house is put together was shrunk with a hammer. This trans cover was hammer shrunk Did it before I had the HF shrinker. The shrinker tool is faster but the hammer method can do things the shrinker cant
I made this out of a Chingwa pair and some s**** that a local yard sells by the pound... I spent way , way more time on it than my onetime small project took to complete.. Now sits in my storage shed in case I ever need it again
I bought two, both Lancasters. The first one I picked up at an unknown speed shop near the Wisconsin border north of Rockford Il that specialized in circle track stuff. The second was an Internet buy from the Carolinas. I mounted them on the HF stand. I don’t know if HF still offers the stand, but I found it to be inexpensive and useful. I’m still very much an amateur, but don’t fault the Lancaster shrinker stretchers for my lack of hand / eye coordination.
I have two of those ^^ style mounted on my homemade stand. Looks basically like that one. I use it all the time when I’m doing metalwork. I do wish I had deeper throat units, but not for the extra cost they require.
I bought the Eastwood Deep Jaw shrinker/stretcher about a year or two ago. Not sure how I got along without it before.
Very happy with my Mittler Brothers, and you can get replacement jaws from them if you break one or wear it out.
I bought harbor freight pair and built my own stand out of bed frame and s****. Probably a total of 125.00. I mounted wheels on the side, just tip it over and roll it around.
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